The two big stories of the week were the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh to the USSC, and the spiking bond yields that brought 10-year U.S. Treasuries from approximately 3.05% to 3.25% in the blink of an eye, as hot jobs numbers raised expectations for future nominal GDP growth and triggered fears of accelerating rate hikes from the Fed.

In the background, there were some subtle storylines in the Mueller investigation, with Manafort speaking with the Mueller team, the Mueller team downsizing by offloading two prosecutors, and Randy Credico invoking his 5th Amendment rights, while mysterious questions surrounding Brett Kavanaugh’s cleared credit card debts went unanswered.

Other interesting articles from the week included the following…

WSJ Politics: “GOP Operative Secretly Raised at Least $100,000 in Search for Clinton Emails” (i.e., Peter W. Smith, who was found on May 14, 2017, after asphyxiating himself in a hotel room in Rochester, Minn., 10 days after speaking with the WSJ)
Atlantic: “What an Audacious Hoax Reveals About Academia”
USA Today: “Check out how much a computer cost the year you were born”
New Yorker: “Did the Saudis Murder Jamal Khashoggi?” by Robin Wright